How to make your own haggis

Here's the 'mise'. The pluck, coarse oatmeal, suet, ox bung and onions. Seasonings are still in the cupboard Photograph: Tim Hayward

The pluck is washed, simmered gently in unsalted water until tender - usually about and hour and a half - then allowed to cool overnight in its own cooking liquid Photograph: Tim Hayward

After 90 minutes the boiled pluck has contracted into a pretty dense lump of meat Photograph: Tim Hayward

Separate the parts of the pluck. Clockwise from top right - heart, two lungs, two lobes of liver Photograph: Tim Hayward

Chop the heart and lungs finely - I used a mezzaluna but a food processor will do the job if pulsed gently. You want a gravelly texture, not paté. Grate the liver - a weird and strangely satisfying sensation Photograph: Tim Hayward

Chop the onions ... Photograph: Tim Hayward

... and toast the oatmeal for a few minutes in a medium oven Photograph: Tim Hayward

Add the onions to the meats and season with salt, coarse ground white pepper, sage, thyme, rosemary and savory Photograph: Tim Hayward

Add the oatmeal, the suet and a pint or so of the liquid in which the pluck was poached. The mix should be moist but not enough to hold together as a single mass Photograph: Tim Hayward

The ox bung will have been thoroughly cleaned and salted so rinse it inside and out with clear water, pat dry with a kitchen towel and lay out on a tray. There is no reason for this except to allow you a smutty smirk at the sight of a two foot rubbery condom. Photograph: Tim Hayward

Begin spooning the stuffing into the bung until it's half full. I wanted to make two so I stopped early and cut off the bung short. Expel any air left in the casing ... Photograph: Tim Hayward

... and tie tightly with several turns of butcher's string Photograph: Tim Hayward

Work the filling back out into the full length of the casing while stifling smutty chuckles Photograph: Tim Hayward

The alternative method of closing the bung if you have a section without a closed end is to suture with a needle and butcher's thread Photograph: Tim Hayward

Once again, half-pack the casing, expell the air and, this time, suture closed Photograph: Tim Hayward

Again work the stuffing out along the casing Photograph: Tim Hayward

Lower the haggis into gently simmering water. The casing will contract and the stuffing will swell so it's essential to watch carefully and use a skewer to pierce and release any trapped air Photograph: Tim Hayward

Remember that cooking time is based on thickness not mass. The long sausage shape of the bung means that this one took just over an hour and a half to cook Photograph: Tim Hayward

Lift out onto a plate and pat dry Photograph: Tim Hayward

If you cut into the haggis while it's still piping hot, the casing will retract and the stuffing will ooze out appealingly Photograph: Tim Hayward

The texture defies description. As velevety and mouth-coating as foie gras yet with a nutty edge. Any fattiness is mitigated by serving hot but nothing prepares you for the smell or the richness Photograph: Tim Hayward